The explanation came following a formal complaint from the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), but Finn Myrstad, director of digital policy at the organisation told Ars that fixing it could be too little, too late.

Removing the bug "is a start, but far from good enough" he said adding that Runkeeper should ensure that Kiip.me (the third party in the case) deletes all the data illegally collected immediately. Neither Runkeeper nor Kiip responded to questions from Ars about whether they would comply.

Further Reading

“It is quite strange that they have not done something before now,” continued Myrstad adding “there are some questions to be answered”—specifically whether Kiip notified Runkeeper it was receiving all this data, and if not, why not.

The complaint stemmed from a wider investigation of 20 apps by the NCC, which found that many implemented unfair terms and poor privacy practices. A complaint was also made to the Norwegian consumer ombudsman about Tinder and to French authorities about similar dating app Happn. Local media reports suggest that Tinder, at least, has vowed to update its terms and conditions for European consumers. Currently its policy grants it control over all user generated content, including, in theory, private chats.

To further prove the point that T&Cs are a nightmare for consumers, the NCC will read out loud the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the 30 most common mobile apps, a stunt that will take more than 24 hours.

“We do this to show the absurdity of expecting consumers to read and understand these terms,” explained Myrstad. The demonstration will be streamed live from 8:00am BST (9am CEST) on Tuesday May 24, and will include the T&Cs of Facebook, Linkedin, iTunes, AngryBirds, and Yelp amongst others.

Further Reading

“Reading 250,000 words of app terms and conditions is an impossible task for most people. We hope this will highlight what consumers actually click ‘OK’ to. Many apps also take away our rights by granting themselves the power to unilaterally amend the contract. It is self-evident that consumers are put at a disadvantage,” said Myrstad.

The NCC wants terms and conditions and privacy policies to be much more reader-friendly. It suggests companies should cut back on the obvious, avoid legal terms, words and concepts that sow doubt and leave room for interpretation, avoid writing whole paragraphs using capital letters, and to highlight the most important elements.